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| ALPINE SKI WORLD CUP 1997/98 |
Wengen (SUI) Men's 6th Downhill. 17.Jan.1998
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100 Austrian downhill win for Andreas Schifferer
Report by Patrick Lang
Andreas Schifferer has turned
himself into
a specialist of double downhills
: in Wengen,
the 23-year-old skier from south
of Salzburg
clinched his third downhill race
of the season
after an almost perfect run down
the longest
speed course on the Ski World
Cup tour.
At the end of the demanding 4260
meters of
the legendary "Lauberhorn"
piste
which has a vertical drop of
1020 meters,
the Austrian beat by almost a
second France's
Jean Luc Cretier.
It was his third win in the second
of two
consecutive downhills raced in
two days.
Last month, he has won the second
downhills
in Beaver Creek, Colorado and
in Bormio,
Italy.
It was also the one hundredth
Austrian victory
in a men's World Cup downhill
since 1967.
"Kaiser" Franz Klammer
has contributed
the most to this record with
25 successes
from 1973 to 1984.
The great dominator of this season,
Hermann
Maier also nicknamed the "Best"
or the "Monster" by
some of his
fans because of his impressive
wins in the
past weeks, was more "human"
in
this sixth downhill of the winter
raced under
superb weather conditions. He
finished 3rd
at 1,33 second despite an excellent
start.
Yet he lost much time today on
the rather
flat intermediate gliding section
and in
the final turns which Schifferer
nailed with
amazing precision. Three other
Austrians
finished behind him.
Italy's Kristian Ghedina, the
winner in 1997,
was 7th in front of Norway's
Aamodt and Canada's
Ed Podivinsky.
Among the skiers who crashed
are Austria's
Fritz Strobl, one of the fastest
on top,
and America's Chris Puckett.
The best Swiss, Franco Cavegn
was 12th and
his teammate Didier Cuche 14th.
The reigning
World Champion Bruno Kernen crashed
only
few meters before the final jump
leading
into the finish are.
Two Americans came among the
top-20 : the
1995 winner Kyle Rasmussen was
18th and the
young Jason Rosener 20th , 1/100
behind Frances
Nicolas Burtin, 2nd on Friday.
AJ Kitt was
29th and Chad Fleicher 30th.
Only 40th was
the defending Olympic Champion
Tommy Moe
: he finished a second behind
Japan's Tsuyoshi
Tomii who was 35th.
With this sixteenth Austrian
World Cup win
this season, Schifferer reinforced
his lead
in the downhill standings while
Maier is
still far ahead in the Overall
World Cup.
He will now try to score some
extra points
in Veysonnaz, Switzerland after
the slalom
on Sunday which counts with Friday's
competition
for the first World Cup combined
of the season.
It will be is first World Cup
slalom ever.
12th in the first speed event
in Beaver Creek,
Schifferer finished all the following
five
downhills among the top-3 . He
showed during
the timed training runs hold
by fair weather
on Wednesday and Thursday that
he felt comfortable
on the longest course of the
ski circuit.
On Friday he couldn't give his
best because
of the bad visibility. It was
quite foggy
when he started and he had problems
to ski
as well as the previous day.
Fortunately
for him, the sun was again shining
on Saturday
afternoon when the race began
one hour after
schedule.
Very compact and smooth on the
first half
of the course which includes
some impressive
jumps and a speed section where
the best
racers cruise at 95 mph, Schifferer
was outstanding
in the final curves. He made
up much time
there on his closest rivals such
as Cretier
who lost half a second on him.
His winning
margin is one of the largest
in recent time
in that specialty.
Another reason for Hermann Maier's
roommate
to be extremely pleased by his
latest achievement.
"It's a great feeling to
have skied
so well today" he said.
" This
downhill is unique and I'm proud
to have
done so well. I'm happy to have
won today
because the race took place on
the full length
by perfect conditions.
Hermann gave me much momentum
yesterday with
his success and I have tried
very hard today.
I have to check why I'm so good
on the second
day to see if there is away to
turn the thing
around if necessary. In Japan,
there will
only be one Olympic downhill".
Maier's reaction in the finish
area showed
that he was very disappointed
by his first
defeat since January 6th . His
face was closed
when he took off his skis and
left the area.
"The course was too soft
for my style
" he explained afterwards.
"My
line is very straight and I often
skied on
fresh snow this time. I have
to learn to
be smoother. I guess that I must
be pleased
by this 3rd place but I was hoping
to win
my sixth race in a row".
Very satisfied on his side was
Jean Luc Cretier,
who conquered his second podium
this season
after Beaver Creek.
The French veteran went through
a tough time
in the past week after the cancellation
of
the downhill in Val Gardena after
he has
set the fastest time.
"It's good to be back on
top" he
said with a smile. "I was
very focused
today because I felt I had a
chance to do
well this time. I like this kind
of course
which requires perfect skiing.
This result
is excellent for my moral and
my ranking.
I'm sure now to be starting in
the first
seed in Japan.". He is the
first "non-Austrian"
in the downhill World Cup standings
in 5th
place behind Schifferer, Maier,
Eberharter,
again excellent 5th and Werner
Franz 10th
in that race.
The men's World Cup will resume
in Veysonnaz,
Switzerland, with two slaloms
on Sunday and
Monday. This time the skier to
beat will
be Italy's Alberto Tomba, who
skipped the
giant slalom in Adelboden to
train harder
in slalom. He could never celebrate
a World
Cup win in this place where he
was twice
2nd in slalom in past years.
His demonstration
in Schladming showed that he
is ready for
more wins. |
Men's 6th Downhill, 17.01.1998
| Rank |
Name |
Nat. |
Total |
| 1 |
SCHIFFERER Andreas |
AUT |
2:28.32 |
| 2 |
CRETIER Jean-Luc |
FRA |
2:29.29 |
| 3 |
MAIER Hermann |
AUT |
2:29.65 |
| 4 |
TRINKL Hannes |
AUT |
2:29.80 |
| 5 |
EBERHARTER Stephan |
AUT |
2:29.88 |
| 6 |
KNAUSS Hans |
AUT |
2:30.10 |
| 7 |
GHEDINA Kristian |
ITA |
2:30.15 |
| 8 |
AAMODT Kjetil Andre |
NOR |
2:30.16 |
| 9 |
PODIVINSKY Ed |
CAN |
2:30.37 |
| 10 |
FRANZ Werner |
AUT |
2:30.44 |
| 11 |
SAUDER Luke |
CAN |
2:30.67 |
| 12 |
CAVEGN Franco |
SUI |
2:30.81 |
| 12 |
STEMMLE Brian |
CAN |
2:30.81 |
| 14 |
CUCHE Didier |
SUI |
2:30.82 |
| 15 |
GREBER Christian |
AUT |
2:30.98 |
| 16 |
CATTANEO Luca |
ITA |
2:31.02 |
| 17 |
SENIGAGLIESI Alberto |
ITA |
2:31.16 |
| 18 |
RASMUSSEN Kyle |
USA |
2:31.19 |
| 19 |
BURTIN Nicolas |
FRA |
2:31.20 |
| 20 |
ROSENER Jason |
USA |
2:31.29 |
| 21 |
ASSINGER Roland |
AUT |
2:31.30 |
| 22 |
PRETOT David |
FRA |
2:31.32 |
| 23 |
SELETTO Erik |
ITA |
2:31.36 |
| 24 |
RUNGGALDIER Peter |
ITA |
2:31.42 |
| 25 |
PERATHONER Werner |
ITA |
2:31.47 |
| 26 |
FATTORI Alessandro |
ITA |
2:31.62 |
| 27 |
HERRMANN Markus |
SUI |
2:31.71 |
| 28 |
ORTLIEB Patrick |
AUT |
2:32.10 |
| 29 |
KITT A J |
USA |
2:32.22 |
| 30 |
FLEISCHER Chad |
USA |
2:32.23 |
| 31 |
PEN Peter |
SLO |
2:32.36 |
| 32 |
BREZAVSEK Ales |
SLO |
2:32.46 |
| 33 |
KRAUSS Stefan |
GER |
2:32.47 |
| 34 |
HASLER Juergen |
LIE |
2:32.78 |
| 35 |
TOMII Tsuyoshi |
JPN |
2:32.90 |
| 36 |
RUNGGALDIER Daniel |
ITA |
2:33.06 |
| 37 |
SIVERTSEN Kenneth |
NOR |
2:33.45 |
| 38 |
GRUENENFELDER Juerg |
SUI |
2:33.50 |
| 39 |
HOFFMANN Ambrosi |
SUI |
2:33.73 |
| 40 |
MOE Tommy |
USA |
2:33.94 |
| 41 |
DENERIAZ Antoine |
FRA |
2:34.02 |
| 42 |
GIGANDET Xavier |
SUI |
2:34.06 |
| 43 |
PICHLER Christian |
AUT |
2:34.21 |
| 44 |
MARIN-CUDRAZ Frederic |
FRA |
2:34.23 |
| 45 |
BESSE William |
SUI |
2:34.25 |
| 46 |
BELL Graham |
GBR |
2:35.38 |
| 47 |
VAITKUS Linas |
LTU |
2:39.75 |
| 48 |
SCHWARZACHER-JOYCE Paul Patrick |
IRE |
2:40.70 |
Did not finish:
PUCKETT Christopher (USA), STROBL Fritz (AUT), GALLI Lorenzo (ITA), KERNEN
Bruno Ii (SUI)
Disqualified:
LINNEBERG Nils (CHI), BELTRAMETTI Silvano (SUI), JAERBYN Patrik (SWE)
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